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78-602: The Nefertiti Bust is a painted stucco -coated limestone bust of Nefertiti , the Great Royal Wife of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten . It is on display in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin . The work is believed to have been crafted in 1345 BC by Thutmose because it was found in his workshop in Tell-el Amarna , Egypt. It is one of the most-copied works of ancient Egypt. Nefertiti has become one of

156-508: A court sculptor 's workshop outside the main tomb area, became his property. This acquisition, which was according to a 1913 partition treaty with the Egyptian Département des antiquités under Gaston Maspero , is still disputed. They were taken to his villa on Tiergartenstraße No. 15a with the intention of creating a public collection. In his later years, he placed various parts of his collection on permanent loan, first to

234-472: A broad collar with a floral pattern. The ears have suffered some damage. Gardner's Art Through the Ages suggests that "With this elegant bust, Thutmose may have been alluding to a heavy flower on its slender sleek stalk by exaggerating the weight of the crowned head and the length of the almost serpentine neck." According to David Silverman , the bust reflects the classical Egyptian art style, deviating from

312-498: A coating for the outside of a building and " plaster " to a coating for interiors. As described below, however, the materials themselves often have little or no difference. Other European languages, notably Italian, do not have the same distinction: stucco means plaster in Italian and serves for both. The basic composition of stucco is lime , water, and sand. The difference in nomenclature between stucco, plaster , and mortar

390-399: A finish layer, which is thinner and faster to apply, compared to the traditional application of three-coat stucco. Imitation stone stucco can also be produced using the traditional application, but with marble dust being added to the mixture. As with any cement-based material, stucco must be reinforced to resist movement cracking. Plastic or wire mesh lath , attached with nails or screws to

468-552: A new monotheistic form of worship called Atenism dedicated to the Sun disc Aten . Little is known about Nefertiti. Theories suggest she could have been an Egyptian royal by birth, a foreign princess or the daughter of a high government official named Ay , who became pharaoh after Tutankhamun . She may have been the co-regent of Egypt with Akhenaten, who ruled from 1352 BC to 1336 BC. Nefertiti bore six daughters to Akhenaten, one of whom, Ankhesenpaaten (renamed Ankhesenamun after

546-401: A pharaoh in her own right for a short time after her husband's death. The bust of Nefertiti is believed to have been crafted about 1345 BC by the sculptor Thutmose . The bust does not have any inscriptions, but can be certainly identified as Nefertiti by the characteristic crown, which she wears in other surviving (and clearly labelled) depictions, for example the "house altar". The bust

624-422: A photograph of the bust "that didn't show Nefertiti in her best light". When Lefebre inspected the artifacts found in the investigation, the bust was already wrapped up in a box sitting in a dimly lit room. It is unknown whether Lefebre "went to the trouble of lifting the bust out of the box". Borchardt also wrongly claimed the bust was made of gypsum , instead of limestone. The German Oriental Society maintains that

702-434: A princess, but in his diary, Borchardt clearly referred to it as the head of Nefertiti. "This proves that Borchardt wrote this description so that his country can get the statue," Hawass said. "These materials confirm Egypt's contention that (he) did act unethically with intent to deceive." However, Hawass said Egypt did not consider the bust to be a looted antiquity. "I really want it back," he said. His statement also said that

780-433: A sand finish or sprayed. Originally, the lath material was strips of wood installed horizontally on the wall, with spaces between, that would support the wet plaster until it cured. This lath and plaster technique became widely used. In exterior wall applications, the lath is installed over a weather-resistant asphalt - impregnated felt or paper sheet that protects the framing from the moisture that can pass through

858-402: A solid masonry , brick , or stone surface. The finish coat usually contained an integral color and was typically textured for appearance. Then with the introduction and development of heavy timber and light wood-framed construction methods, stucco was adapted for this new use by adding a reinforcement lattice, or lath , attached to and spanning between the structural supports and by increasing

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936-415: A symbol of the impact that European colonialism has had on Egypt's history and culture. It has been the subject of an argument between Egypt and Germany over Egyptian demands for its repatriation , which began in 1924, once the bust was first displayed to the public, and more generally it fuelled discussions over the role museums play in undoing colonialism. Today, Egypt continues to demand the repatriation of

1014-422: A warmer climate (like California , Nevada , Arizona , New Mexico and Florida ), stucco is the predominant exterior for both residential and commercial construction. Stucco exterior (with wood frame interior) became a popular alternative in the southwestern United States during the 1970s, as the masonry labor costs for adobe rose. Stucco has also been used as a sculptural and artistic material. Stucco relief

1092-597: A weaker and brittler stucco. James Simon (art collector) (Henri) James Simon (17 September 1851 – 23 May 1932) was a German-Jewish entrepreneur, art collector, philanthropist and patron of the arts during the Wilhelmine period. He donated most of his significant collections to the Berlin State Museums , including the famous Nefertiti bust . Henri James Simon was born in Berlin,

1170-419: Is based more on use than composition. Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, it was common that mortar as well as plaster , which was used inside a building, and stucco, which was used outside, would consist of the same primary materials: lime and sand . Animal or plant fibers were often added for additional strength. Sometimes additives such as acrylics and glass fibers are added to improve

1248-493: Is displayed at the Neues Museum in Berlin, where it was originally displayed before World War II . Egypt has called for the return of the bust, citing provisions that prohibited any items of great archaeological value from leaving Egypt. Egypt accuses Borchardt of "wrapping the bust to conceal its value and smuggling it out of the country". The Nefertiti bust has become not only a defining emblem of ancient Egypt, but also

1326-436: Is very hard and brittle and can easily crack and separate from the surcface if the base on which it is applied is not stable. Typically its color was gray, from the innate color of most Portland cement, but white Portland cement is also available. Today's stucco manufacturers offer a very wide range of colors that can be mixed integrally in the finish coat. Other materials such as stone and glass chips are sometimes "dashed" onto

1404-549: Is visually extended into a heavenly architecture with a depiction of Christ , the Virgin Mary or the Last Judgment at the center. Stucco is used to form a semi-plastic extension of the real architecture that merges into the painted architecture. Because of its " aristocratic " appearance, Baroque-looking stucco decoration was used frequently in upper-class apartments of the 19th and early 20th century. Beginning in

1482-515: The Body of Nefertiti sculpture. In 2005, Hawass requested that UNESCO intervene to return the bust. In 2007, Hawass threatened to ban exhibitions of Egyptian artifacts in Germany, if the bust was not lent to Egypt, but to no avail. He also requested a worldwide boycott of loans to German museums to initiate what he called a "scientific war". Hawass wanted Germany to lend the bust to Egypt in 2012 for

1560-696: The Museum Wiesbaden for ten years before being transferred in 1956 to West Berlin , where it was exhibited at the Dahlem Museum . As early as 1946, East Germany (German Democratic Republic) pressed for the return of the bust to Museum Island in East Berlin , where it had been displayed before the war. In 1967, the bust was moved to the Egyptian Museum in the Charlottenburg borough of Berlin and remained there until 2005, when it

1638-855: The Royal Air Force . On 6 March 1945, the bust was moved to a German salt mine at Merkers-Kieselbach in Thuringia . In March 1945, the bust was found by the American Army and given over to its Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives branch . It was moved to the Reichsbank in Frankfurt and shipped in August to the U.S. Central Collecting Point in Wiesbaden , where it was put on public display beginning in 1946. It remained on display at

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1716-611: The Venice Biennale modern art festival. The artists said the project, called Body of Nefertiti, was an attempt to pay homage to the bust. According to Wildung, it showed "the continued relevance of the ancient world to today's art." Egyptian cultural officials proclaimed it to be a disgrace to "one of the great symbols of their country's history" and banned Wildung and his wife from further exploration in Egypt. The Egyptian Minister for Culture, Farouk Hosny , declared that Nefertiti

1794-440: The arabesque reached its full maturity, carved stucco remained a very common medium for decoration and calligraphic inscriptions. Indian architecture used stucco as a material for sculpture in an architectural context. It is rare in the countryside. In Roman art of the late Republic and early Empire, stucco was used extensively for the decoration of vaults. Though marble was the preferred sculptural medium in most regards, stucco

1872-521: The "eccentricities" of the Amarna art style, which was developed in Akhenaten's reign. The exact function of the bust is unknown, though it is theorized that the bust may be a sculptor's modello to be used as a basis for other official portraits, kept in the artist's workshop. Borchardt commissioned a chemical analysis of the coloured pigments of the head. The result of the examination was published in

1950-444: The 1920s, stucco, especially in its Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque materialization, became increasingly unpopular with modern architects in some countries, resulting not only in new buildings without stucco but also in a widespread Movement  [ de ] to remove the stucco from existing tenements. Stucco was still employed in the 1950s in molded forms for decorating the joints between walls and ceilings inside houses. It

2028-473: The Baroque concept that integrates the three classic arts , architecture , sculpture , and painting . The Greco-Buddhist art of modern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan made extensive use in monasteries and temples of stucco for three-dimensional monumental sculpture as well as reliefs. These were usually carved from a rough modelling over a framework and then painted. Similar techniques are used for

2106-542: The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation which oversees the museum released the file, which is now available (not directly from the museum), however controversially attached a copyright to the work, which is in the public domain. In the past few months, there have been circulating images on social media of the ceiling of King Ramses IV tomb as resembling the back of the bust of Nefertiti statue. These images are altered and do not represent

2184-462: The actual ceiling of any King tombs by patterns or designs as suggested by the fake images. In 1930, the German press described the bust as their new monarch, personifying it as a queen. As the "'most precious ... stone in the setting of the diadem ' from the art treasures of ' Prussia Germany '", Nefertiti would re-establish the imperial German national identity after 1918. Hitler described

2262-656: The authority to approve the return of the bust to Egypt lies with the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the German culture minister. The French language book Le Buste de Nefertiti – une Imposture de l'Egyptologie ? ( The Bust of Nefertiti – a Fraud in Egyptology? ) by Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin and the book Missing Link in Archaeology by Berlin author and historian Erdogan Ercivan both claimed that

2340-536: The book Portrait of Queen Nofretete in 1923: When the bust was first discovered, no quartz to represent the iris of the left eyeball was present as in the other eye, and none was found despite an intensive search and a then significant reward of £1000 being put up for information regarding its whereabouts. Borchardt assumed that the quartz iris had fallen out when Thutmose's workshop fell into ruin. The missing eye led to speculation that Nefertiti may have suffered from an ophthalmic infection and lost her left eye, though

2418-420: The building as well as in the wall by its excellent permeability- It is more elastic and workable than cement render. Lime itself is usually white; color comes from the aggregate or any added pigments . Lime stucco has the property of being self-healing to a limited degree because of the slight water solubility of lime (which in solution can be deposited in cracks, where it solidifies). Portland cement stucco

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2496-435: The bust as "a unique masterpiece, an ornament, a true treasure", and pledged to build a museum to house it. By the 1970s, the bust had become an issue of national identity to both German states , East Germany and West Germany , created after World War II. In 1999, the bust appeared on an election poster for the green political party Bündnis 90/Die Grünen as a promise for a cosmopolitan and multi-cultural environment with

2574-508: The bust belongs to Egypt and that it was taken out of Egypt illegally and should therefore be returned. He maintained the stance that Egyptian authorities were misled over the acquisition of the bust in 1913 and demanded that Germany prove that it was exported legally. According to Kurt G. Siehr, another argument in support of repatriation is that "Archeological finds have their 'home' in the country of origin and should be preserved in that country." The repatriation issue sprang up again in 2003 over

2652-586: The bust on loan. In 2009, when the bust was moved back to the Neues Museum, the appropriateness of Berlin as its location was questioned. Several German art experts have attempted to refute all the claims made by Hawass, pointing to the 1924 document discussing the pact between Borchardt and French authorities in Egypt. German authorities have also argued the bust is too fragile to transport and that legal arguments for repatriation were insubstantial. According to The Times , Germany may be concerned that lending

2730-563: The bust to Egypt would mean its permanent departure from Germany. In December 2009, Friederike Seyfried, director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, presented to the Egyptians documents held by the museum regarding the discovery of the bust, which include a protocol signed by the German excavator and the Egyptian Antiquities Service . In the documents, the bust was listed as a painted plaster bust of

2808-651: The bust to King Fuad I of Egypt as a political gesture. Hitler opposed the idea and told the Egyptian government that he would build a new Egyptian museum for Nefertiti. "In the middle, this wonder, Nefertiti, will be enthroned," Hitler said. "I will never relinquish the head of the Queen." While the bust was under American control, Egypt requested the United States to hand it over; the US refused and advised Egypt to take up

2886-464: The bust was a modern fake. Stierlin claims that Borchardt may have created the bust to test ancient pigments and that when the bust was admired by Prince Johann Georg of Saxony , Borchardt pretended it was genuine to avoid offending the prince. Stierlin argues that the missing left eye of the bust would have been a sign of disrespect in ancient Egypt, that no scientific records of the bust appear until 11 years after its supposed discovery in 1923 and, while

2964-529: The bust was genuine. In 2009, director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum, Dietrich Wildung, dismissed the claims of forgery. He stated they were a publicity stunt, adding that radiological tests, detailed CT computer tomography and material analysis support its authenticity. Egyptian authorities also dismissed Stierlin's theory, with Hawass remarking that "Stierlin is not a historian. He is delirious." Although Stierlin had argued "Egyptians cut shoulders horizontally" and Nefertiti had vertical shoulders, Hawass said that

3042-732: The bust, whereas German officials and the Berlin Museum assert their ownership by citing an official protocol, signed by the German excavators and the French-led Egyptian Antiquities Service of the time. Nefertiti (meaning "the beautiful one has come forth") was the 14th-century BC Great Royal Wife (chief consort) of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt . Akhenaten initiated

3120-579: The division of the archeological finds of 1912 between Germany and Egypt. According to the secretary of the German Oriental Company (who was the author of the document and who was present at the meeting), Borchardt "wanted to save the bust for us", referring to Germany. While Philipp Vandenberg describes the theft as "adventurous and beyond comparison", Time magazine lists it among the "Top 10 Plundered Artifacts". Borchardt showed Egypt's French chief antiques inspector, Gustave Lefebvre ,

3198-572: The emperor an understanding of a Jewish perspective on social issues. Their close relationship with the erratic ruler was criticized by Zionist contemporaries and they were later mocked as the "Emperor's Jews" ( Kaiserjuden ) by Chaim Weizmann . James Simon died in Berlin and is buried at the Jewish cemetery on Schönhauser Allee in Prenzlauer Berg . Wilhelm II sent a wreath from his Dutch exile. Parts of his collection that were not donated to

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3276-416: The finds of the dig were divided fairly, noting that Nefertiti was at the top of the exchange list and that "the inspector could have looked at everything closely at the time". The bust is 48 centimetres (19 in) tall and weighs about 20 kilograms (44 lb). It is made of a limestone core covered with painted stucco layers. The face is completely symmetrical and almost intact, but the left eye lacks

3354-458: The finish coat before drying, with the finished product commonly known as "rock dash", "pebble dash", or also as roughcast if the stones are incorporated directly into the stucco, used mainly from the early 20th through the early 21st centuries. As a building material, stucco is a durable, attractive, and weather-resistant wall covering. It was traditionally used as both an interior and exterior finish applied in one or two thin layers directly over

3432-428: The inlay present in the right. The iris of the right eye is of inserted quartz with black paint and is fixed with beeswax. The background of the eye-socket is unadorned limestone. Nefertiti wears her characteristic blue crown known as the "Nefertiti cap crown" with a golden diadem band looped around like horizontal ribbons and joining at the back, and an Uraeus (cobra), which is now broken, over her brow. She also wears

3510-471: The left eye, but that it was later destroyed. The bust was first CT scanned in 1992, with the scan producing cross sections of the bust every five millimetres (0.20 in). In 2006, Dietrich Wildung, director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum, while trying a different lighting at the Altes Museum , where the bust was then displayed, observed wrinkles on Nefertiti's neck and bags under her eyes, suggesting

3588-472: The life-size statues decorating the gopurams of Hindu temples in modern South Asia . Since stucco can be used for decoration as well as for figurative representation, it provides an ideal transitive link from architectural details to wall paintings such as the typically Baroque trompe-l'œil ceilings, as in the work of the Wessobrunner School . Here, the real architecture of the church

3666-430: The limestone core. The inner face has creases around her mouth and cheeks and a swelling on the nose. The creases and the bump on the nose are leveled by the outermost stucco layer. According to Huppertz, this may reflect "aesthetic ideals of the era". The 2006 scan provided greater detail than the 1992 one, revealing subtle details just 1–2 millimetres (0.039–0.079 in) under the stucco. The bust has become "one of

3744-405: The matter with the new German authorities. In the 1950s, Egypt again tried to initiate negotiations, but there was no response from Germany. In 1989, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak viewed the bust and announced that Nefertiti was "the best ambassador for Egypt" in Berlin. Egyptian archaeologist , Egyptologist , and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, Zahi Hawass believed that

3822-408: The most admired, and most copied, images from ancient Egypt", and the star exhibit used to market Berlin's museums . It is seen as an "icon of international beauty." "Showing a woman with a long neck, elegantly arched brows, high cheekbones, a slender nose and an enigmatic smile played about red lips, the bust has established Nefertiti as one of the most beautiful faces of antiquity." It is described as

3900-405: The most famous bust of ancient art, comparable only to the mask of Tutankhamun . Nefertiti has become an icon of Berlin's culture . Some 500,000 visitors see her every year. The bust is described as "the best-known work of art from ancient Egypt , arguably from all antiquity ". Her face is on postcards of Berlin and 1989 German postage stamps. The bust has been in Germany since 1913, when it

3978-651: The most famous women of the ancient world and an icon of feminine beauty. A German archaeological team led by Ludwig Borchardt discovered the bust in 1912 in Thutmose's workshop. It has been kept at various locations in Germany since its discovery, including the cellar of a bank, a salt-mine in Merkers-Kieselbach , the Dahlem museum , the Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg and the Altes Museum . It

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4056-457: The new style seen in the bust is part of the changes introduced by Akhenaten, the husband of Nefertiti. Hawass also claimed that Thutmose had created the eye, but it was later destroyed. In 2003, the Egyptian Museum in Berlin allowed the Hungarian artist duo Little Warsaw , András Gálik and Bálint Havas, to place the bust atop a nearly nude female bronze for a video installation to be shown at

4134-530: The opening of the new Grand Egyptian Museum near the Great Pyramids of Giza. Simultaneously, a campaign called "Nefertiti Travels" was launched by cultural association CulturCooperation, based in Hamburg , Germany. They distributed postcards depicting the bust with the words "Return to Sender" and wrote an open letter to German Culture Minister Bernd Neumann supporting the view that Egypt should be given

4212-436: The paint pigments are ancient, the inner limestone core has never been dated. French archaeologists present at the site as well never mentioned the finding and neither did written accounts of the digs. Stierlin remarked that the archaeologist "didn't even bother to supply a description, which is amazing for an exceptional work found intact". Ercivan suggests Borchardt's wife was the model for the bust and both authors argue that it

4290-429: The plaster something to attach to and to add strength. Types include expanded-metal lath, woven-wire lath, and welded-wire lath. If applied during very dry weather, the layers of stucco are sprayed with water for one or more days to keep a level of moisture within the stucco while it cures, a process known as "moist curing". If the stucco dries too soon, the chemical hardening ("hydration") will be incomplete, resulting in

4368-409: The porous stucco. Following World War II , the introduction of metal wire mesh , or netting, replaced the use of wood lath. Galvanizing the wire made it corrosion resistant and suitable for exterior wall applications. At the beginning of the 21st century, this "traditional" method of wire mesh lath and three coats of exterior plaster was still widely used. In some parts of the United States with

4446-537: The presence of an iris in other statues of her contradicted this possibility. Dietrich Wildung proposed that the bust in Berlin was a model for official portraits and was used by the master sculptor for teaching his pupils how to carve the internal structure of the eye, and thus the left iris was not added. Gardner's Art Through the Ages and Silverman present a similar view that the bust was deliberately kept unfinished. Zahi Hawass , former Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, suggested that Thutmose created

4524-527: The public display of the bust, but again kept it secret at the request of Borchardt. It was permanently donated to the museum in 1920. In 1923, the bust was revealed to the public in Borchardt's writings; in 1924, it was displayed to the public as part of the Egyptian Museum of Berlin . The bust created a sensation, swiftly becoming a world-renowned icon of feminine beauty and one of the most universally recognised artifacts to survive from Ancient Egypt. The bust

4602-428: The sculptor Thutmose, along with other unfinished busts of Nefertiti. Borchardt's diary provides the main written account of the find; he remarks, "Suddenly we had in our hands the most alive Egyptian artwork. You cannot describe it with words. You must see it." A 1924 document found in the archives of the German Oriental Company recalls a 20 January 1913 meeting between Borchardt and a senior Egyptian official to discuss

4680-632: The sculptor had tried to depict signs of aging. A CT scan confirmed Wildung's findings; Thutmose had added gypsum under the cheeks and eyes in an attempt to perfect his sculpture. The CT scan in 2006, led by Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute in Berlin, revealed a wrinkled face of Nefertiti carved in the inner core of the bust. The results were published in the April 2009's Radiology . The scan revealed that Thutmose placed layers of varying thickness on top of

4758-540: The slogan "Strong Women for Berlin!" According to Claudia Breger, another reason that the bust became associated with German national identity was its place as a rival to Tutankhamun , found by the British who then effectively controlled Egypt. The bust became an influence on popular culture, with Jack Pierce 's make-up work on Elsa Lanchester 's hairstyle in the film Bride of Frankenstein being inspired by it. Stucco In English, "stucco" sometimes refers to

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4836-633: The son of a well-off Jewish cotton merchant. He attended the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster and received a six-month traineeship at Bradford , then a centre of textile manufacture, before he became a partner with his father in 1876. Though a reserved man, he played an influential role in the German society, especially by his participation at a regular roundtable with Emperor Wilhelm II . Simon and other invitees like Albert Ballin and Carl Fürstenberg as well as Emil and Walther Rathenau discussed economic life and tried to give

4914-507: The state museums were auctioned. Simon shared an interest for archaeology with Wilhelm II. In 1898, he was one of the founders of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft in collaboration with Wilhelm von Bode . In 1911, Simon provided the financing of Ludwig Borchardt 's excavations at Pharaoh Akhenaten 's city in Amarna , and many of the found artefacts, which included the sculpted busts of Nefertiti and Tiye from

4992-486: The structural framing, is embedded into the base coat to provide stiffening for the stucco. Where stucco is to be applied to a structure of wood-framing or light-gauge steel framing, the framing is protected from moisture damage by applying a cement based primer, or a vapor-permeable, water-resistant weather barrier; typically an asphalt -saturated paper or one of a variety of manufactured plastic-based sheets, known as " building wraps " or "stucco wraps". The properties of

5070-487: The structural properties of the stucco. This is usually done with what is considered a one-coat stucco system, as opposed to the traditional three-coat method. In the latter nineteenth century, Portland cement was added with increasing frequency to cover surfaces in contact with soil or water. At the same time, traditional lime plasters were often being replaced by gypsum plaster. Lime is almost as good in balancing humidity as clay. It prevents moisture accumulation inside

5148-606: The suppression of the Aten cult), married Tutankhamun, Nefertiti's stepson. While it was once thought that Nefertiti disappeared in the twelfth year of Akhenaten's reign because of her death or because she took a new name, she was still alive in the sixteenth year of her husband's reign according to a limestone quarry inscription found at Dayr Abū Ḥinnis "on the eastern side of the Nile, about ten kilometres [6 miles] north of Amarna ", in today's Al- Minya Governorate Nefertiti may have become

5226-493: The thickness and number of layers of the total system. The lath added support for the wet plaster and tensile strength to the brittle, cured stucco; while the increased thickness and number of layers helped control cracking. The traditional application of stucco and lath occurs in three coats—the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat. The two base coats of plaster are either hand-applied or machine sprayed. The finish coat can be troweled smooth, hand-textured, floated to

5304-404: The weather barrier must not only protect the framing from rain and moisture, but at the same time allow the free passage of any water vapor generated inside the building to escape through the wall. A wide variety of stucco accessories, such as weep screeds , control and expansion joints, corner-aids and architectural reveals are sometimes also incorporated into the lath. Wire lath is used to give

5382-419: Was "not in safe hands" and although Egypt had not renewed their claims for restitution "due to the good relations with Germany," this "recent behaviour" was unacceptable. In 2016 a freedom of information request was made to the Egyptian Museum for access to a full colour scan of the bust that had been made by the museum 10 years prior. The museum declined the request citing impact on gift shop revenue. Eventually

5460-422: Was better for use in vaults because it was lighter and better suited to adapt to the curvature of the ceiling. Baroque and Rococo architecture makes heavy use of stucco. Examples can be found in churches and palaces, where stucco is mostly used to provide a smooth, decorative transition from walls to ceiling, decorating and giving measure to ceiling surfaces. Stucco is an integral part of the art of belcomposto ,

5538-490: Was displayed in Berlin's Neues Museum on Museum Island until the museum was closed in 1939; with the onset of World War II , Berlin museums were emptied and artifacts moved to secure shelters for safekeeping. Initially stored in the cellar of the Prussian Governmental Bank, the bust was moved in the autumn of 1941 to the tower of a flak bunker in Berlin. The Neues Museum suffered bombings in 1943 by

5616-543: Was found on 6 December 1912 at Amarna by an archaeological team funded by the German Oriental Company ( Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft  – DOG), a voluntary association founded by one of the wealthiest men in Prussia, James Simon , who exported more than 20,000 artefacts from Egypt and Iraq. The team was led by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt . The bust was found in what had been the workshop of

5694-453: Was generally painted the same colour as the ceiling and used in designs where a picture rail or rat rail was in use. Modern stucco is used as an exterior cement plaster wall covering. It is usually a mix of sand , Portland cement , lime and water, but may also consist of a proprietary mix of additives including fibers and synthetic acrylics that add strength and flexibility. Modern synthetic stucco can be applied as one base layer and

5772-542: Was initially done by Friedrich Rathgen , presented in Borchardt's book “Portrait of Queen Nofretete” (1923). They matched the ones in the 18th dynasty paintings, and a later analysis by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology confirmed the results in 1982. The bust also bears resemblance to other unfinished, but recognizable busts of Queen Nefertiti. A 2006 CT scan that discovered the "hidden face" of Nefertiti proved, according to Science News , that

5850-594: Was moved to the Altes Museum . The bust returned to the Neues Museum as its centerpiece when the museum reopened in October 2009. Since the official unveiling of the bust in Berlin in 1924, Egyptian authorities have demanded its return to Egypt. In 1925, Egypt threatened to ban German excavations in Egypt unless the bust was returned. In 1929, Egypt offered to exchange other artifacts for the bust, but Germany declined. Although Germany had previously strongly opposed repatriation, in 1933 Hermann Göring considered returning

5928-465: Was not revealed to the public until 1924 because it was a fake. Another theory suggested that the existing bust was crafted in the 1930s on Hitler's orders and that the original was lost in World War II. Scientists who have studied the sculpture, discovered that the pigments used on the bust have been matched to those used by ancient Egyptian artisans. The chemical analysis on the dyes and pigments

6006-458: Was shipped to Berlin and presented to James Simon , a wholesale merchant and the sponsor of the Amarna excavation. It was displayed at Simon's residence until 1913, when Simon lent the bust and other artifacts from the Amarna dig to the Berlin Museum. Although the rest of the Amarna collection was displayed in 1913–14, the bust was kept secret at Borchardt 's request. In 1918, the museum discussed

6084-479: Was used in the architectural decoration schemes of many ancient cultures. Examples of Egyptian , Minoan , and Etruscan stucco reliefs remain extant. In the art of Mesopotamia and ancient Persian art there was a widespread tradition of figurative and ornamental internal stucco reliefs, which continued into Islamic art , for example in Abbasid Samarra , now using geometrical and plant-based ornament. As

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